Mordschlag

Mordschlag — Power Evaluation

Final Score: 42 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium

• Intrinsic: 42.9 · Deck: 42 · Meta: provisional
• Primary role: Utility · Secondary: Removal

Why it scores here

Mordschlag is a niche protective Equip: it keeps a Normal Summoned/Set monster safe from the opponent's Special Summoned monsters' activated effects and lets it win damage calculation against an SS monster by stripping ATK/DEF equal to the equipped monster's original ATK. Its value is that situational protection and its generic splashability (15 sample decks across 11 archetypes, ~1.2 copies each), not its stats or any board-building. With zero recorded combo appearances and no card advantage, its ceiling is limited to a defensive combat-tech role that depends entirely on the opponent fielding Special Summoned monsters, which lands it in the low-40s.

Axis scores

Calculation

Weight profile: 0.7 Utility + 0.3 Removal. Intrinsic ≈ 42.9, Deck ≈ 42, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck

Strengths

• Generic Equip Spell with no archetype restriction, splashable into any deck that relies on Normal Summoned monsters (15 decks across 11 archetypes).
• Gives the equipped Normal Summoned/Set monster immunity to the opponent's Special Summoned monsters' activated effects.
• During damage calculation the equipped monster drops an opposing Special Summoned monster's ATK/DEF by its own original ATK, flipping many battles.
• Low deck cost: ~1.2 copies per deck, no garnet and no self-locking restriction.

Weaknesses

• Requires you to control a Normal Summoned/Set monster; no value if you only field Special Summoned bodies.
• Its ATK/DEF reduction applies only in damage calculation and only against Special Summoned opponent monsters.
• As an Equip it is fragile to Spell/Trap removal and does nothing from the Graveyard.
• Provides no card advantage, no search, and no board-building (0 combo appearances).

Counters / choke points

• Mystical Space Typhoon, Cosmic Cyclone, or Harpie's Feather Duster to destroy the Equip.
• Attacking or removing the equipped monster before damage calculation.
• Opponents whose threats are Normal Summoned/Set monsters, which ignore both clauses.
• Effect negation on the Equip's activation or on the equipped monster.

Best use

Protective combat Equip for Normal Summoned bosses, side-deck tech against Special Summon-heavy matchups. Decks: Red-Eyes, Jinzo, Archfiend, Railway, Monarch. Suggested copies: 1.

Evidence & gaps

• Verified: Card text: Equip only to a Normal Summoned/Set monster you control; it is unaffected by the opponent's activated effects of Special Summoned monsters.; Card text: during damage calculation against an opponent's Special Summoned monster, that monster loses ATK/DEF equal to the equipped monster's original ATK.; Legal in TCG, OCG, Master Duel, and Duel Links.
• Observed: 15 sample decks run it, all in the main deck, at an average of 1.2 copies (max 2).; Deck archetypes spread across 11 distinct archetypes (Red-Eyes, Jinzo, Archfiend, Railway, Monarch, etc.).; combo data records 0 appearances, 0% as starter/material/payoff, and no end-board presence.
• Inferred: Functions as a generic protective combat Equip rather than a board-building or advantage engine.; Relevant protection depends on the opponent fielding Special Summoned monsters, making it matchup-dependent tech.
• Data gaps: no combos supplied — combo conversion is text-only inference no guides supplied no banlist token — assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no usage statistics (StatisticsCard) — archetype inclusion % inferred from the 15-deck sample only